Timeless Rapture: Inspired Verse from the Shangpa Masters

Tibet’s religious institutions, whereas less ethereal traditions were often
stopped at the gates. One Western scholar-translator, Matthew Kapstein,
writes, “The Shangs-pa lineage like some vine that adorns a whole forest
without being able to stand by itself may strike one who follows its twists
and turns as being virtually an omnipresent element in Tibetan Buddhism.”
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I have written here about the Shangpa lineage, but I hope you will read
this book as from the lineage. I have translated this book not as a scholar
but as a representative of the chief lama of the Shangpa tradition, Bokar
Rinpoché. One of Bokar Rinpoché’s main Western disciples, Lama
Tcheuky Sengé of France, first asked me to translate this book, and Bokar
Rinpoché himself was very generous with his time in answering hundreds
of questions during the translation process. Lama Drubgyu Tenzin, the
first Westerner whom Kalu Rinpoché chose to teach the three-year, threemonth
Shangpa Kagyu retreat, gave his full time and attention to this
work as my adviser-in-chief for both form and terminology. A translation
of such an intimate part of our lineage would have been inconceivable
without each of their blessings and impossible without their active participation.
Tsadra Foundation was wholly responsible for funding my work on this
translation, including repeated journeys to consult with Bokar Rinpoché,
for which I am deeply grateful.
Christiane Buchet, a colleague in translation and a sister on the spiritual
path, has translated these songs from my English translation to French.
Her work, which was so often better than my version, has proved very
helpful and inspiring. I am also very grateful to the best among us, Lama
Chökyi Nyima (Richard Barron), for his permission to include his translation
of one of Kalu Rinpoché’s songs.
The Flavor of This Collection of Songs
Translator’s Preface 29
Jamgon Kongtrul Lodrö Tayé compiled these songs in the nineteenth century,
mainly from the autobiographies of the lineage’s masters. What is
clear from the first song is that this collection mainly gathers songs of spiritual
teachings. Western readers have fallen in love, just as Tibetans do,
with the songs of Milarepa and of Shabkar. Those realized masters were
wandering yogis, who sometimes sang of profound teachings they’d
received and practiced but often imparted down-to-earth advice to the